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Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, ANP, FAAN
Overview
A number of years ago, while making house calls as a nurse practitioner to homebound, low-income elderly patients in West Baltimore, Sarah Szanton noticed that their environmental challenges were often as pressing as their health challenges. Since then she has developed a program of research at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing on the role of the environment and stressors in health disparities in older adults, particularly those trying to “age in place” or stay out of a nursing home. The result is a program called CAPABLE, which combines handyman services with nursing and occupational therapy to improve mobility, reduce disability, and decrease healthcare costs. She is currently examining the program's effectiveness through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Innovations Office at the Center on Medicaid and Medicare Services. She is also conducting a study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, of whether food and energy assistance improve health outcomes for low-income older adults. A former health policy advocate, Dr. Szanton aims her research and publications toward changing policy for older adults and their families.
Areas of Scholarly Expertise and Interest
Gerontology; aging in place; racial and socioeconomic health disparities-
Videos
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Publications
Szanton, S.L., Leff, B.L., Wolff, J.L., Roberts, L. Gitlin, L.N. (2016). “Home-based care model reduces disability and promotes aging in place.” Health Affairs 35 (9) 1558-1563.
Szanton, S.L., Roberts, L., Leff, B., Walker, J.L., Seplaki, C.L., Soones, T., Thorpe, R.J., Ornstein, K. (2016) “Home but Still Engaged: Participation in Social Activities Among the Homebound.” Quality of Life Research (online ahead of print).
Gleason, K. Tanner, EK, Boyd, C.M., Saczynski, J.S., Szanton, S.L. (2016). “Factors Associated with Patient Activation in an Older Adult Population with Functional Limitations.” Online ahead of print at Patient Education and Counseling (with PhD student).
Szanton, S.L., Wolff, J.W., Roberts, L. Leff, B.L., Thorpe, R.J., Tanner, E.K., Boyd, C., Xue, Q., Guralnik, J. Bishai, D. Gitlin, L.N. (2015) “Preliminary data from CAPABLE, a patient directed, team-based intervention to improve physical function and decrease nursing home utilization: the first 100 completers of a CMS Innovations Project.” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 63(2):371-374.
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Research
- Aging in place
- Home-based programs
- Food stamps and other entitlement programs to improve health resilience
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Awards and Honors
2016 Senior Service America Senior Scholar Award for Research Related to Disadvantaged Older Adults—Gerontological Society of America and Senior Service America, Inc.
Top 50 “2016 Influencers in Aging”—Next Avenue
2015 Baltimore Business Journal Health Care Innovator award
2015 Fellow, Gerontological Society of America
2015 Visiting Fellow, University of Sydney, Australia, June 28-July 5, 2015
2015 Emerging Edgerunner Award—American Academy of Nursing
2014 Co-recipient of Protégé Award—Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research